Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Patience and Fortitude

"Patience and fortitude conquer all things" ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson, through this quote, is trying to give a message about a valuable tool in life, ‘patience’. We often don’t receive instant gratifications, and therefore, one of the most essential things in life require years of hard work and waiting. Fortunately, patience is a virtue that can be formed through cultivation.

This quote represents my personality well, as whenever I’m facing a dilemma, the last thing I would do, is to give up. For example, when solving questions, especially for math, I keep trying until I can’t think of any other ways or answers to the questions. It’s quite annoying and frustrating when it’s a tricky question and isn’t easily solved, but I feel really proud of my accomplishment- that I figured the solution out after working on it for hours. Another example would be on music. When I first came to Malaysia, the only instruments that I knew were flutes and pianos. (I got confused between xylophones and saxophones, so…-_-;;) I didn’t know how to read music, and totally forgot how to even hold the flute up- I was the worst flute player in Junior Band. However, I love music, and I constantly practiced so that I could be one of the good players, not the worst. Two years and a half passed, and I don’t think that I’m the worst player in our band anymore, and I also learned to play the saxophone-I now know the difference between a xylophone and a saxophone. I’ve concluded from the fact, that these two subjects math and music are my two strongest subjects, that patience and fortitude can conquer just about everything.

This person is 'Yoo Il Han', a true patriot of Korea. He helped Korea a lot by himself, and the medicine company that he constructed is still one of the strongest medicine selling companies. He was born when the World War 1 almost started, and although his family lived a poor life due to the war, Yoo Il han always worked for other people's benefits. He was sent to America at young age by himself. He had troubles socializing and communicating as very few people knew the existence of Korea at that time, but even so, his goal was to help the poor kids of Korea that is suffering due to the war. When he went to the university, he found out that he could get a scholarship if he is accepted for the American football team. Yet, he was way too small to play against big, bulky people in America. He trained himself, and finally, he was able to get in as the only Asian among the big ones, and was successful to study for free with the scholarship. When Japan finally took over Korea, the medicine company that Yoo Il Han constructed became dangerous under the threat of Japanese medicine companies, but he always was honest in his business and he emphasized that to his workers, which made it possible for Yoo Han Yang Haeng (the company of Yoo Il Han’s) last so long.

I love Beethoven. I love his music, and I love his enthusiasm towards music. Beethoven simply loved music. His only purposes for having performances was so that many people could listen to music, not to show off his talent. Music was his life, and a life without music meant nothing to him. When he was young, he was forced to play the piano by his father, and he hated that, but he still loved music. His family was so poor, so Beethoven couldn’t afford to do anything besides piano tuitions. He wasn’t able to get any kind of teachings from other people until a person volunteered to support him, letting him be able to travel around, meeting famous musicians. Later on, Beethoven slowly became deaf. For musicians, their ears are very important in many uses, so not being able to hear meant a lot to him- a great tragedy. He committed suicide, but was unsuccessful. He then decided to compose music again, since he already know how each notes sound like in his head, so he doesn’t really need his ears. He tried hard with patience and fortitude- he was able to compose many famous songs of his even when he was deaf.

Both of these two people are the people that I admire and look up to. Their patience and fortitude towards their goals and what they love to do are admirable. They both became extremely successful at the end, so this again proves that perseverance, tenacity and bearing are the main factors that helps one become successful.